About Renounce Birthright

Welcome to Renounce Birthright.

Taglit-Birthright, which was founded in 1999, offers the “gift” of a free, 10-day trip to Israel for Jewish youth between the ages of 18-25. We are young Jews living in the diaspora committed to mobilizing for the abolition of Birthright.

We have three broad aims:

Call for an end to the Taglit-Birthright program.

Educate young Jews about the connections between Birthright trips, and the ongoing colonization and occupation of Palestine.

Affirm the importance of Jewish life in the diaspora and contribute to it in whatever way possible.

Please join us! Start by:

signing our open letter to Birthright, available in the ‘get involved’ section

joining our listserve by sending an email to renouncebirthright+subscribe@googlegroups.com, liking us on Facebook, and following us on Twitter

sending us an email at renouncebirthright@gmail.com. This is a constant work in progress. It’s also a collaboration. We would really love to hear from others who’d like to get on board and contribute to our vision.

Thanks for visiting the site.

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11 responses to “About Renounce Birthright”

I am far too old to avail myself of so-called birthright, and anyway Israel would probably grant me a visa and then refuse me entrance after an unpleasant airport hassle. Politics. I applaud this group and its important educational purpose. If any American asked my advice abiut 10-day vacations, I’d advise them to take a vacation in the USA.

If diaspora means ‘the dispersion or spread of any people from their original homeland’, then doesn’t use of the term buy directly into Birthright’s conceit that Palestine is, in fact, the ancestral homeland of the Jews?

Hi Harry, to begin with, notions of diaspora are complicated and contested. More importantly, I don’t believe that the idea of homeland (however it is understood) should result in the construction of a nation-state founded on the exclusion of indigenous people and the theft of land.

You are of course welcome to construe terms however you please, to take issue with the OED and common parlance. But you must be aware that those reading what you write will link ‘diaspora’ with exile and homeland, with the implication that a homeland is where you belong. I am of the decidedly heterodox view that we need to take responsibility for what we imply.
Don’t get me wrong. I think a campaign against Birthright is a worthwhile endeavour and support it. But if you insist upon shooting yourself in the foot at the outset, I’ll just wish you the best of luck.

I agree 100% with Harry. Calling Jewish life outside of Israel “life in the diaspora,” supports one of the main– and most insidious– goals of Birthright: to suggest that Jews have no true home outside of Israel. You write in the comment above that you don’t believe a homeland has to result in exclusion and occupation… does this mean that renouncebirthright still believes Israel/Palestine is the Jewish homeland, but simply has a different vision for what that homeland should look like? I oppose Birthright because it weakens the already-lose ties young Jews have to the communities where they live/work/go to school/vote, etc., and weakens their commitment to justice in places where they should feel the obligations of citizenship and community.

“Diaspora” is a mind boggling claim that actually does nothing but add to the problem and is a direct cause of the continued victimization of Palestinians by those who claim it. The only true diaspora today is that of the Palestinians, who are still living under unbearable conditions as a direct result of their recent (not thousands of years ago) forceful dispersion from their home land. Their dispersion should be knowledge because of it’s direct relation to their continued victimization, where as Jewish dispersion (Diaspora) is at best a theory, and today it also does not result in verifiable conditions of direct victimization, so it really only adds to the problem.

I am in no way trying to bash anything you are doing but birthright is a private organization run by grants. So until you can stop the people who are giving the money from giving it they won’t stop the trips. Most of them
Are really old Jewish people who will probably not stop giving their money at all.